John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's engagement, as I welcomed the engagement of the previous Minister, with regional airports but I must reiterate that there are concerns which must be addressed. Ireland's official response to the European Commission guidelines stated, "provision of compensation for uncovered operating costs of services of general economic interest (SGEI) would remain possible for small airports to allow for connectivity of all regions". The problem is it does not clarify what the provisions will be. As the Minister stated, the Commission is calling for a maximum intervention rate of 75% for small airports, such as Waterford. Would the Minister agree, even at that, it could have catastrophic consequences for small regional airports?

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